Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am conscious of the issues relating to competitiveness. We are at full employment, the public finances are stabilised and Ireland is the fastest growing economy in Europe but we cannot become complacent. We need to ensure that companies are competitive and that their productivity levels are high. The foreign companies here invested in research and development and innovation and their productivity levels are probably a lot higher than those of indigenous companies. We need to focus on indigenous companies and to encourage them to invest in research and development. This work is being done the local employment offices, LEOs.

The issues surrounding competitiveness are problems of a fast growing economy. We know what happened in the past and I am conscious of the need to ensure it does not happen again. As a Government, we are taking action to address areas of concern. In the area of housing, we have the Rebuilding Ireland plan, which is taking time but it is working.

See this speech in context